Neurotic ‘New Avengers’

51 issues later, Brian Bendis’ New Avengers is still uneven; there are noteworthy standalone stories, but there are needlessly stretched arcs that lack clear resolutions. It’s not the traditional Avengers book, that’s for sure.

The Good:

1. The lineups. While composed mostly of street vigilantes and brawlers (albeit popular and familiar ones), its three incarnations included powerhouses like Sentry, Dr. Strange and Ms. Marvel.
2. The decent handling of Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Wolverine.
3. The two Annuals’ near-balanced doses of action and drama. The same with some single-issue stories like the Civil War tie-ins.
4. Art by Leinil Yu and Billy Tan.

The Bad:

1. As with Bendis’ Mighty Avengers run, ignored continuity (Ares’ son is already a trained warrior; Wanda knew about her lost sons; the Wasp can grow to giant size prior to Disassembled).
2. Very little focus on Echo and Iron Fist.
3. Alpha Flight dying off-panel.
4. Underused or mishandled Sentry.
5. Some major problems solved by non-members (Emma Frost, Quake, Norman Osborn).
6. Avengers-less, unnecessary and prolonged Secret Invasion tie-ins.
7. Speech tics repeated by different characters.
8. Only a few cases solved by the outlaw team after nearly two years’ worth of issues.

The Ugly:

1. Now $3.99 per issue. $4.99 if it’s a special issue with extra pages.

The Better Avengers Books:

1. Mighty Avengers by Dan Slott.
2. Avengers: The Initiative by Christos Gage.
3. Dark Avengers by Bendis (although it’s really just Thunderbolts with a new name).